The Pink Azalea

Hi everyone! Wow, no vintage goodness from me since July??? Yikes! Well, I've got something now! lol Back in 2009, my good blogging buddy, Julie from Life With The Tucker and Wolek Clan surprised me with a 1950s Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book. My mom's birthday is tomorrow and I really wanted to give a vintage cake recipe a whirl so I got out the fab book Julie sent me and got to perusing the Cakes section.

I decided on the lovely Pink Azalea cake: 

The Pink Azalea

Cakes "from scratch" aren't terribly different in today's kitchens, except maybe the use of shortening (then) as opposed to butter (now). This cake was pretty easy to do although I got a little fancy with it and used almond extract over the vanilla called for in the recipe. The frosting was another story.

I've made quite a few scratch frostings and icings before but this one called for just sugar, a little cream of tartar and a little water, boiled and poured over stiff egg whites. Which normally wouldn't be a problem except that when I went to remove the candy thermometer, it was hot (duh), I dropped it back in the syrup where it promptly broke adding the extra ingredient of glass. So out that first batch went and we started to boil again without the benefit of knowing what temp the syrup was before adding to the whites. Oh well. It's still pretty.

I colored one cake layer pink (added too much and it came out bright pink when the book called for "delicate". Oops!) and added strawberries to part of the frosting for the middle of the layers. The outside got doused in pink frosting and it is delicious!

My first foray into the world of vintage baking was successful (busted thermometer aside) and I can't wait to try another recipe from this book!